"You are not the right fit for this school."
educator.
Once, when I applied to a charter school in the inner LA
area – they never bothered to explain why in the terse email that they sent me,
why I did not fit in their little coterie.
Beach. I cannot confirm my suspicion regarding why the school district let me
go, but the last day that I worked there, the local paper had published my
personal essay on my work in the LA County Juvenile Hall.
I had a good track record at Hermosa Beach. Over the past
year, admittedly I did not take many of the assignments which they offered to
me, in part because I was taking assignments in Centinela Valley, where I was
guaranteed work every day and for better pay.
The art teacher really liked me, and she requested me every
chance that she could, even when I had to turn her down from time to time, she
would still request me. She even wrote me a letter of recommendation, informing
me at that point that her students openly expressed their joy when she told
them that I was going to cover their class.
I loved working in Hermosa Beach. The students were some of
the most respectful students I have ever had the privilege of serving. The
secretarial staff were very polite as well as professional, proving that good
secretaries are not hard to find, and they do not have to lord over you their
superior skills at keeping the school together in one piece.
Once, when I brought a student to the office for kicking another student, the
younger child got visibly upset, pleading and panicking that he did not want to
be expelled. I explained to him calmly that I had no intention of him getting
expelled. “How else are you going to learn?” I comforted him. “But you will get
a consequence. But don’t worry – you won’t get expelled.” Still, he was very
distraught about the whole matter,
enough that he asked his tech teacher for help. After the young man went to the
principal’s office, the nurse told me that she was very impressed with how I
counseled the young student. I never forget that moment, since at the time I
had never felt so insecure and unstable about the choices and decisions that I
was making as a teacher.
The same teacher who also worked with the distraught boy
later complimented me for the leadership that I had undertaken with an unruly
group of fifth graders – the full time teacher was caught ill all of a sudden.
She had been struggling with the student, in part no doubt from the pressure of
being evaluated at the end of the year whether she would have a job or not with the district next year. I am
convinced that part of the reason why she was having troubles was that she did
not want to make waves with the parents or the administration at the school –
in short, she was working to earn a job as well do a job, a terrible mixture
for a teacher, who deserves absolute support and respect without worrying about
upsetting the powers that be.
years, a more common phenomenon in local districts considering the growing
fiscal and political problems pressing against school staff and budgets.
Still, after almost five years of being on call to the
district, I was summarily, or rather unsummarily, dismissed. I had called into
the subfinder system, only to find that I could not get through for some
reason. I called the office manager for an explanation, following came a short
phone call from the manager, telling me that I had received a number of
unsatisfactory reports, and that I should look for a position in another school
district.
I could not believe what I was hearing. Two teachers had
written me letters of recommendation. I was often requested by one teacher.
Teachers and staff praised the work that I had done at the school. Students
also looked forward to my coming. And I was unsatisfactory?
installation from Beverly Hills, one whose fastidious up-tight nature plainly
on display distanced many staff. She was simply not a nice lady, but she was
not overtly mean, either.
I finally got in touch with the interim principal a week
later, where she denied that she was not involved in the “house-cleaning” for
substitutes.
computer during class time. I was appalled to hear such a thing, as I never
used the computer unless I wanted to supplement a lesson. She claimed that this
complaint was lodged against me during my last day – during a class when I was
teaching students about the American Revolution. After exhausting all the
questions that I had shared with the class — provide for me by the teacher –
I then asked the class if they were aware that the American Revolution turned
in a world-wide conflict, one which involved the Dutch, and their strong
financial backing, and Spain. I went to the Internet to confirm the widespread
conflagration of the American Revolution. Hermosa Valley Students are quite
astute in core subjects, more so than more inner city counterparts.
I was deeply saddened, therefore, that the “leadership” at
the school deemed me unsatisfactory. After sharing with them the standing which
I had with parents and teachers and
students, the principal became more evasive.”
times, too – when, she did not tell me. She then shared with me that the
district did not deem me to be a poor teacher, but that I was not the “right
fit.”
beyond the notion that I was not politically compatible with school officials
or parents. It is both shameful and sad that so many teachers who are capable,
credible, and dedicated eventually get pushed out because a principal or a set
of parents do not “like” the teacher. I am against tenure for life, but
teachers really do need protection.
The assistant principal at another local high school made a similar
indict against me – yet she and the district staff did not have the courage or
the character to inform that I was not the “right fit” until I had confronted
her placidly in her office. The shameful secrecy is a great sorrow to me, and I
am sure that these subtle subterfuges have brought down many qualified
teachers. What a tragedy for public education.
you, but because personal preferences have no place in deeming or demeaning the
quality and efficacy of a teacher, we drummed up some trumped up reasons to
remove you, and we are convinced that you won’t do anything about it because
there are more of us than of you, and not only that you are a mere at-will
employee whom we do not owe an explanation.”
Our students deserve better than pencil-pushing
micromanaging. Parents should expect more from their teachers and their
principals, too.